Since 1967, WBS has been welcoming students from the UK and expanding over time to create a global community. WBS has grown to become the largest department at the University of Warwick, with a global network of over 53,000 alumni in more than 167 countries.
Beginning as the School of Industrial Relations and Business Studies, with just five academic staff and 24 postgraduate students, in 1988 we officially became the University’s Business School. Today, WBS offers more than 40 education programmes spanning every level, from Foundation Year to PhD and Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), with a strong emphasis on expanding executive education. This all requires our substantial community of over 650 staff and to cater for circa 7,000 students who will be attending a programme with WBS at any one time.
Executive Education at Warwick Business School has been an important part of the institution for over 30 years, and contributed to WBS’ status as the first UK business school to receive the prestigious ‘triple crown’ of business school accreditation: the Association of MBAs (AMBA); the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB); and the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
Executive Education is one of the School’s development objectives and has benefitted from investment in senior leadership, professional support, and financial resource in the last five years. We recognise that we have historically underperformed in this area given the academic talent and connections to practice that we already have.
In April 2018, a new Director of Executive Education was appointed to provide strategic oversight and leadership for the area, having been re-established as a strategic priority for the School. Reporting directly to the Dean, and as a member of the School Advisory Board, Senior Management Group, Programme Strategy Committee, and an active faculty member of the Strategy & International Business Group, the positioning of the Director role ensured that Executive Education was renewed and more embedded within the School to meet its vision for the future. New operational delivery was prioritised for execution, with a new Operations Director role to act as a member of the Chief Operating Officers (COO) team, with other Department Section Heads and an active member of the Programme Delivery Committee, ensuring that the Executive Education offer remained in full alignment with School policies, procedures and quality assurance/enhancement protocols.
